At 55, Barbie makes history as Swimsuit's first Rookie–Legend

Swim Daily Staff

Tue Feb 11, 2014 @ 8:09 PM

She was born Barbara Millicent Roberts in a tiny town in Wisconsin, and with those sparkling blue eyes and that Pantene Girl mane she could easily have made a solid living in sticking with her first job, "Teenage Fashion Model." But this dreamer had another career in mind—all of them—and so over the past 55 years Barbie has tried her tiny plastic hand at over 130 different careers.

Something about how Barbie used her modeling career as a launching pad for bigger things struck a chord with us at Swimsuit. Though we have yet to see one of our own run for president, scores of Swimsuit alum have gone on to launch business empires, acting careers, fashion lines, media production companies and other kinds of ventures. It felt natural, then, for us to reach out to the legend and ask her to help us celebrate our landmark issue by shimmying back into that iconic chevron swimsuit to star in her own Swimsuit 2014 photo shoot with legend-in-his-own-right Walter Iooss.

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Below's video has exclusive behind the scenes footage from this first-of-its-kind shoot, which went off without a hitch—not even a lost shoe. To watch it is to witness two masters of their craft making Swimsuit history.

* * * Stay tuned next week for another BTS video from our epic Legends shoot, in which Barbie takes on her newest career venture: art director.